Church needs to challenge young people, Irish archbishop says

Published: 2005-06-23

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- The church is failing young people by not challenging them, Dublin's archbishop said. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said his archdiocese needs a "radical shape up" of its faith formation program for young people. He said the church needed to become relevant for young people. "If young people declare the church irrelevant, it may be because we do not show sufficiently that their questionings, their doubts, their reticence, their revolt and their revulsion are relevant to many of our pastoral programs," he said. "Many young people have never really felt the challenge of the message of Jesus in their lives. In not challenging them we have failed them," the archbishop said during a June 20 Mass in Bray. He said the church needed to nurture the youthful idealism that most young people have. "Today there is a greater need than ever for idealism, even for that typical idealism of the young, which may be unrealistic, but which shows up the empty pragmatism of many of our lives. Many young people do not have idealism because we have not brought idealism out in them," the archbishop said.

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